


cali smile

by RRHand



Series: crazy in love [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Again, Billy Hargrove is a better person outside of Hawkins, Birthday Fluff, Bisexual Billy Hargrove, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Female Billy Hargrove, Female Billy Hargrove/Female Steve Harrington, Female Harringrove, Female Steve Harrington, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kinda, Male Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler Bashing, Neil Hargrove (mentioned) - Freeform, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, as always, just a fucking comment, neil is his own fucking warning, no beta we die, pure fucking fluff, thats it, this is all this series is, unbetaed, we just die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26587039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RRHand/pseuds/RRHand
Summary: They celebrate Billie's birthday + a marriage mention.20 months into their "thing". may, 87.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: crazy in love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904338
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	cali smile

**Author's Note:**

> hello, gorgeous people! another pure fluff fem!harringrove. i was mad the buffers didn't even bother to give billy a fucking birthday, so this happened. as always, billie and stevie are so fucking in love, honestly, i'm jealous of what they have ;) hope you enjoy it, see you at the end!
> 
> for the "child abuse" tag: Billie is roughed up by you-know-who, but there's no details of how it happened!

Cooking is one of Stevie's hidden talents, even if not many know that. She picked it up mostly for necessity, since ‘ _no parents, house empty_ ’ also meant no one to cook for fourteen-year-old Stevie. She burned a lot of shit in the beginning, including herself, but she eventually got better and, once she did, she started to really enjoy it. When she baked a cake for the first time, though, it was like the gates of heaven had opened for her. Stevie liked the process, the idea of just _being_ in the kitchen, having fun and making good food, the fact that cooking is an art and not a science, and the fact she is good at it.

It quickly became a hobby, although a hidden one - she never felt comfortable enough with Tommy and Carol to share it with them, her parents weren’t even an option and Nathan wasn’t all that happy about it, said _‘it’s surprising you’re good at it at all’._ It didn’t inspire too much confidence in her. 

So, the first time she cooked for Billie, she lied. Stevie said she had picked it up in the dinner near her house, as if they’d ever sell anything better than a half-assed burger, much less fettuccine alfredo. Billie didn’t notice it, but for good reason, the blonde was still a bit out of it - Neil had found something to rage over and had been rougher than normal that night. But Billie stayed the night and found out the next morning, when she walked into the kitchen in the middle of Stevie making pancakes. The blond didn’t make fun of Stevie or anything, just gave her that small, warm smile she reserved for mornings with Stevie and said ‘ _you’re a cook too, huh, pretty girl? damn, i’ve really landed myself a good one’_ and sat on the countertop, stealing one of the pancakes on her way.

It’s nice to cook for someone that wants to eat your food, Stevie discovers. Sure, she’s a solid cook, but Billie eats everything she does like it is the single most delicious dish on earth. Some time after, when the brunette gathered the courage to bring that up, Billie just said that it was made by Stevie to her, so everything was, indeed, the most delicious thing ever. And Billie still doesn’t believe when Stevie calls her a romantic, but she’s always stopping Stevie’s heart with declarations like that. 

And that’s why she’s here, at the crack of the damn dawn, 6:45 a.m. on a saturday, May 17th, unmolding a beautiful cake for the birthday of the love of her life. 

Stevie falls fast, she knows, but she feels more certain than she ever did in her life when she thinks about Billie and their future and the life they are constructing together. So, yeah, she thinks of Billie as the love of her life and it makes her chest warm and a smile creep up every single time. 

But it’s not just because Billie is the love of her that she’s up earlier than Billie herself, who is definitely a morning person. No, she is baking a cake and cutting fruits and making pancakes and brewing coffee at 7a.m. because Billie has never had breakfast in bed on her birthday. No one has ever woken her up with kisses and coffee and a little cake and eggs and a _happy birthday, i love you_ first thing in the morning. Knowing what she knows about Billie’s childhood, she isn’t surprised, really, but she sure is determined to make up for lost time.

And because this is 100% for Billie, Stevie just puts a single white candle on the orange cake. If it was up to Stevie, she would make an over-the-top decoration, really would, because her girlfriend deserves it, but Billie likes the simpler things in life now that they are in Cali.

Moving was one of the best ideas that Stevie ever had. After spending the night in a dingy little karaoke bar in Chicago, she learned that life could be so much better than Hawkins - sure, she knew some places were easier to be gay in, but it’s one thing to know that in theory and another to experience it. But Stevie experienced it, kissed Billie right in the open in the middle of a full bar and no one batted an eye. So, the next morning, when they were still in Stevie’s bed, lounging around, the brunette asked Billie to move in with her, but not to the Harrington House, to California. 

It took them a bit over two months to be in San Francisco, chilling in the balcony of their tiny one-bedroom apartment. And it was amazing, not only to Stevie, who had never been so free in her life, but to Billie too. Stevie could see why the blonde was so pressed about going to Hawkins and dealing with Neil there - when your modus operandi is to be so frank about your own existence and relatively unafraid to be yourself, Hawkins’ oppressive small town atmosphere would’ve been unimaginably cruel.

But they were out, escaped that den of nightmares, and are in sunny, liberated San Fran, where Billie smiles that huge, ear-to-ear smile all the time. She’s softened a lot since she realized Neil wasn’t coming to get her - now, she’s full of little kisses, big smiles, and _I love you_ ’s. 

And, sure, Stevie knows that if she chose to bake a huge cake with icing and decorations and all, Billie would give her her _Cali smile_ and thank her, even if it’s not her thing. But the brunette wants that to be her thing, wants Billie accustoming to kindness and happiness and people respecting her wishes and birthday’s celebrations, hence she lets the cake free of frosting and with a single candle on it.

She moves on to brewing the coffee, the last thing on her list of necessary items for a successful breakfast tray, thinking of how heartbroken she had been when Billie told her she never remembered celebrating her birthday. Her mother had left soon enough that Billie only had flashes of that blonde beauty and Neil’d never waste his time with something like that. Stevie, ready to tackle head-on everything the word threw at her, decided to correct that by celebrating every little thing - every birthday and holiday they spend together. 

And that is what she’s doing, correcting things, as she takes the big breakfast tray into their room and sets it in the nightstand next to Billie’s side of the bed. The blonde is still sleeping, on her back, splayed on the bed, taking as much space resting as she does awake. 

Stevie crawls close to Billie’s warm body and starts to brush her curls. 

“Morning, sleepy head, time to wake!” She singsongs in a low tone. Billie makes a sound and an adorable frown, curling around Stevie and burrowing herself on the bed. 

“C’mon, babe, your coffee is getting cold!” Stevie keeps the playful tone, fickling one of her girlfriend’s ears softly. 

Billie blinks, sleep still clutching her, and two beautiful blue eyes stare back at Stevie.

“‘at you doin’ up, pretty thin’?” Billie mumbles into Stevie’s shoulder. 

“It’s your birthday, love.”

“And?” Billie still hasn’t risen her head from where it was smashedin Stevie.

“And... birthday breakfast, darling.” Stevie singsongs again.

“Okay, then.” And then Billie is sitting up, back against the headboard, pulling Stevie with her. “Mornin’.” She adds and she’s kissing Stevie. 

When they break apart, the brunette turns, picks up the tray and sets it in the bed by Billie’s other side. Billie’s smiling wide, eyes shining suspiciously, as she accepts her mug of coffee. Stevie picks her own mug and settles next to Billie, kissing the blonde’s temple. 

“Happy birthday, babe, I love you.” 

Billie turns to her and rests her head on Stevie's shoulder. “You didn’t have to do all this, sugar.” 

“I know I didn’t have too,” Stevie’s hands are in Billie’s hair again. “But I wanted to. You deserve it.” 

Billie laughs a bit. “Alright then. Thank you, Vie.” 

They stay in silence for a while, just eating and talking slowly, with only the sun rays slipping through the curtains illuminating the room. Satisfaction and contentment, two things that were hard to find in Hawkins, filled the room - life is good.

“I’m so fucking lucky to have found you, babe.” Billie says, after a few seconds of munching on the cake her girlfriend had baked for her. 

“Nah, Hargrove, I would say I’m the one that found you.” She laughs and Billie pokes her ribs. “But don’t worry, I’m the lucky one here.” 

Billie lifts Stevie’s left hand and kisses her knuckles, the once-pale skin now glowing from the California sun. 

“You know I’m gonna put a ring on your finger one day, right?” Billie asks, lips ghosting over the brunette’s knuckles. 

Stevie arches an eyebrow, a defiant glint in her eyes. “Oh, yeah?” She asks around a smile. “Not if I put one on yours first.” 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it! kudos and comments are super welcome! if you enjoy my work, please consider supporting me! see you guys next time!


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